Saw this article this morning and thought it might be of interest, especially to our Princess fans. . . .

Travel Weekly's Cruise E-Letter
July 23, 2002

A SOURCE CLOSE TO the European Commission's investigation of Carnival Corp.'s bid for P&O Princess echoed reports in European financial newspapers that the EC might clear Carnival's bid, and likely without asking the line to sell off any of its assets. The cruise industry, meanwhile, is holding its collective breath, as an official decision from the EC could come this week. However, even with the EC's blessing, a wedding is far from certain: Carnival's proposal, as well as the rival bid from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is still awaiting a decision from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. And, if all companies pass all regulatory hurdles, P&O Princess shareholders still have to decide with whom they want to partner.

At the Captains Circle party last week this was briefly discussed. The RCL deal has passed all hurdles both in the UU and Europe. The Carnival one has not at this time but is expected to pass all with no problems. After that the Captain wasn't sure what would happen but I got the impression that Carnival is the third favorite option after either no changes or the RCL deal.

Here is a summary of the news from the cruise industry
which was carried in Cruise News Daily over the last
week:

* Carnival's proposed buyout of P&O Princess is taking
one more step toward final approval. Through a series of
leaks from the EU, it is being widely reported that the
proposal will have European regulatory approval this
week. Royal Caribbean's competing merger proposal earlier
received approval. The surprising factor is that the EU
is not requiring Carnival to dispose of any of its
European assets as was expected.
The next step for both companies is to gain approval
of the FTC in the US without which neither can move
ahead.
All along, Carnival has said that they feel that
either both will be approved or both denied. They see the
issues involved as the same, since whichever line would
combine with P&O Princess would create a similarly-sized
company operating in the US market.
Publicly Royal Caribbean keeps trying to convince
everyone that the proposals are entirely different, and
theirs will have no problem with approval, while saying
Carnival's faces major problems. Royal Caribbean's
actions haven't demonstrated such confidence, however.
They reportedly have spent quite a bit on PR firms in
Brussels having them lobby the EU to turn down the
Carnival proposal. (It is considered more acceptable for
the EU commissioners to consider lobbyists' information
than the US FTC commissioners.) As CND reported last
month, Royal Caribbean also had retained a firm which
began contacting US travel agencies asking for them to
write the FTC requesting that the Carnival proposal be
turned down.
If both companies win FTC approval, it will be back to
the P&O Princess stockholders' meetings to decide which
proposal to accept, and the last round there went to
Carnival.

__________________ I cruise the Emerald Princess, Eastern Caribbean on April 16, 2012